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Bromsgrove mugger given suspended jail sentence

A BROMSGROVE mugger, who threatened to stab an 18-year-old for his headphones, has escaped an immediate jail sentence.

Jack Shipley, of New Road, Sidemoor, grabbed headphones from the victim after threatening to stab him in a late night street robbery, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Shipley, 20, admitted the offence, which happened in Stourbridge Road at about 1am on February 22 this year.

Andrew Davidson, prosecuting, told the court at an earlier hearing that engineering student Benjamin Glass was walking home with his headphones on and passed Shipley and two other people, who all had their hoods up, at a bus stop.

One of the group started walking backwards alongside Mr Glass and said: “All right, blood, how’s it going?’ Shipley then came across and told Mr Glass to give him the headphones, which were Dr Dre Beats special edition, worth £120.

Shipley grabbed the headphones, held them behind his back and, when Mr Glass asked for them back, he pushed him in the face.

He said: “You shouldn’t be walking my streets at night, blood.”

Mr Davidson said Shipley had six previous convictions, including offences of robbery.

Daniel Oscroft, defending, said Shipley had "not had the best of childhoods", had worked all his adult life and had now assumed parental responsibilities for his partner’s child.

He had spent nine weeks in detention after being arrested for the street robbery and had also spent time under a curfew.

Mr Oscroft pleaded for the judge to allow Shipley to continue his journey from a "tearaway to a responsible adult".

Judge Robert Juckes QC gave Shipley a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and put him under supervision from the probation service, with an order that he attends work sessions at a farm.

Shipley was also ordered to pay £250 compensation to Mr Glass and put under a curfew from 10pm until 6am for six months.

The judge told him he had his boss – Kieran Monaghan, managing director of See Through Windows Ltd, of Bromsgrove – to thank for sparing him jail.

Mr Monaghan said in a letter to the judge that Shipley came across "extremely well" when he was interviewed.

He had started with the company on May 5 and had shown "integrity, confidence and in-depth knowledge" of the business, said the letter.

The judge added that giving Shipley the chance to work was more likely to stop him committing more crime than sending him to prison immediately.